In many ways this was a fitting end to Wakefield’s and Wigan’s seasons. Though they finished a point apart in the final Super League table, the vast difference in expectations on either side of the Pennines means that the end-of-season mood could not be more different.
Though their play-off challenge ultimately fell away in the final fortnight, this victory for Wakefield means that the side who have perennially been one of Super League’s strugglers will finish fifth – making this their best season since 1981.
For the reigning Super League champions, Wigan, this defeat – an embarrassing loss and the first time they have failed to score this season – draws an emphatic line under a season of frustration.
Though it began with a World Club Challenge victory against Cronulla, this has been an arduous campaign for Wigan and, for the first time since 2006, the Super League play-offs will kick off without them. That, perhaps, is an accurate indictment of how below-par Wigan have been for large periods.
“I’m fuming with the way we finished,” said the Wigan coach, Shaun Wane. “Ask me again in a fortnight and I might recheck that as we’ve won a World Club Challenge and made the cup final – but I’m not making any excuses; we played this like a pre-season game.”
Here they were thoroughly outclassed by a Trinity side who played as though their lives depended on it. Wigan knew only a 90-point victory would see them claim fourth at the expense of St Helens. Within seconds it was apparent Wakefield would not give them a chance of getting anywhere near that margin.
“This is the benchmark for Wakefield now,” said the Trinity head of rugby, John Kear, who coached them when they last finished fifth, in 2009. “We’re on an evolution similar to Castleford but we’re a year or two behind them. We’ll get better next year.”
Trinity were thoroughly good value for the 12-0 half-time lead accrued courtesy of tries from Ben Jones-Bishop and Jacob Miller. But their cause was aided by an insipid effort from the Warriors, with ill-discipline and poor handling contributing to their downfall.
Matters would not improve for Wigan after half-time, either. Wakefield capitalised on more uninspiring attacking play from the visitors to score three more tries, all of supreme quality, with Sam Williams and Scott Grix securing victory in the final quarter.
By the end Wakefield were so far ahead they seemed to be actively trying to put Keegan Hirst over for his first try as a Super League player. They succeeded in that task with two minutes remaining.
At full-time the Wakefield fans and players held a “party on the pitch” to celebrate their season. If Kear’s comments come to fruition, there may be much more to celebrate for Trinity in the coming years.
Widnes secured their Super League status and condemned Catalans Dragons to a place in the Million-Pound Game with a nail-biting 12-10 victory in the south of France. The Vikings finished bottom of Super League at the end of the regular season but rescued their top-flight status with a first-ever victory in Perpignan thanks to second-half tries from Corey Thompson and Stefan Marsh.
In the closing moments, Marsh produced the tackle of the game to prevent Lewis Tierney scoring the match-winning try.
The Dragons go to Leigh next Saturday as they seek to prevent a drop into the Championship.
